something the aarp has lobbied quite forcefully against. its continuation. and as joe noted and just about everybody would acknowledge is absolutely going to have an effect on the economy. >> bill gross over the weekend said stocks and bonds will return over 5% next year. unemployment stays over 7.5%. that seems out of your play book to some degree. >> to some degree. there were a number of responses. there is a real question going forward with u.s. productivity, profit growth and where equity returns are going to be. i talked about this on "squawk box" last week. robert gordon, who is quite prominent, argued perhaps the last 200 years was a blip of innovation. >> the steam engine, we've got the industrial revolution, and we've got a little dotcom act n action. >> and that generated more response than i don't think he thought. but there's a big debate about the returns that can be expected from equities going forward. i count myself among one of the more optimistic in that regard. i'm very warren buffetty, if that's a word, in that regard. i think the u.s. w